1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vent assemblies and, more particularly, to a vent assembly having a security grate for preventing access through a juxtaposed aperture.
2. Description of Related Art
During the summer time in the southwest, the temperature in an unvented enclosed garage increases to well over 100 degrees. Such a high temperature may cause damage or deterioration to temperature sensitive items stored or otherwise disposed within such garage. Moreover, the high temperature renders it very uncomfortable for persons working within the garage. To alleviate this problem, it is common to cut one or more apertures in a garage door and cover such aperture with a multi-louvered screened vent readily available in hardware stores. Such vents permit convective airflow through the garage door and generally restrains intrusion of larger sized insects. Because the commercially available vents are usually of aluminum or light sheet metal, they are easily destroyed to permit access to the juxtaposed aperture. The now accessible aperture permits a child or small adult to pass therethrough and permits use of extended tools and the like to unlock and open the garage door. The resulting accessibility to the garage and its contents is an invasion of privacy and promotes burglary. The garage owner, and particularly a homeowner having such a vented garage door, is therefore faced with the quandary of either accepting an unreasonably hot garage or risk intrusion.
To encourage airflow into and out of a garage through a closed garage door, one or more of the conventional types of vents are often located close to the bottom and to the top of the garage door. Such positioning permits escape of hot air through the upper vents due to convection and a compensatory inflow of cooler air through the bottom vents. Such plurality of apertures promotes air circulation with attendant cooling benefits but also provides a plurality of locations for intrusion into the confines of the garage.